We're forgetting one very important function of money which is to serve as a token of state power issued to mobilize resources. This has been in evidence from the time Alexander the Great flooded the Eastern Mediterranean with gold coinage in the process of bankrolling his military campaigns.

Seigniorage is a nonviolent way to commandeer resources, by using the power to issue coinage to appropriate resources in the market.

In a credit money system, you don't need to issue coinage in order to issue money. Most 'high-powered money' (created directly by the Central Banks) is not in the form of coinage. And most money is not high-powered money.

The national deficit is basically the State issuing money in excess of its revenues to mobilize resources.

Central Banks issue fiat currency as a tax credit in their capacity as fiscal agents of the Treasury and they spend this by crediting the memorandum accounts of clearing banks. The Treasury then issues dated interest-bearing Debt which is purchased by private banks.

Private banks also create - as sub fiscal agents of the Treasury - what are 'look-alike' tax credits and these are indistinguishable from central bank money. This virtual cash is then either spent - by crediting Central Bank memorandum accounts - on purchasing goods, services or assets (particularly treasury debt) or lent by entering into a sale and repurchase agreement of the cash asset.

The misunderstanding which permeates Economics is to regard the relationship between Treasury and Central Bank as a counter-party relationship when it's an agency relationship.

Do you have examples of sovereigns' principal source of funding being collecting seigniorage through coinage issue?

Several leap to mind. I believe the King of Macedonia had at least one silver mine, the product of which his mint turned into coins. Similar for King Midas and at least some of the revenue of the Hapsburgs derived from coinage of precious metal mined from their own mines. In a time when most transactions were barter and/or feudal tribute these counted for a very significant part of the money supply, especially the 'store of value' part.

The Spanish kings famously brought back precious metals from the colonies, what they didn't use to pay for exports from China via Manila, thence to Acapulco, etc. This factor was sufficiently important that, when Raleigh intercepted the shipment one year, the booty, it has been argued, produced a boom in England.

Likewise, the early accession of California and Nevada as states to the USA and the need and urgency of the transcontinental railroad was justified on the basis of the perceived value of the gold and silver they produced. While the Civil War was financed mostly by greenback dollars, precious metal was seen as important for assuring the value of those dollars, especially to foreign counterparties.

Today it is reported that almost all gold mined in China is kept by the government to build Chinese reserves. That said, it is highly unlikely that China would consider resumption of even a gold reference standard.

One amusing suggestion for dealing with the 'fiscal cliff' has been that Geithner use a section of the code dealing with the authorization of the Secretary of the Treasury, via the Mint, to mint coins of any value in platinum. Thereby he could mint a $1 Trillion dollar coin, drive over to the Fed, deposit it in the US Government account and then the government could write checks on that deposit as opposed to increasing the national debt. A coin a year for a few years could pay for quantitative easing for the public, which, if done along the lines Steve Keen suggests - requiring that such money be used first to pay down debt - would resolve the debt crisis. I would suggest minting $1 million dollar platinum coins to sell as status symbols for the wealthy. No lady should go out without a $1 million coin somewhere on her person.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

Earlier today, Paul Krugman hopped on board and said Obama must be ready to mint the coin if the GOP decides to try to force the country into defaulting on its obligations.

And now a US Congressman has come out against the coin idea and is proposing a law to ban it (via Matthew O'Brien). Ironically, this action actually legitimizes the coin option.

A new wonder of the world: a solid platinum fiat money coin! How deliciously confounding. Of course Obama could veto any legislation proposed to remove the cited authority. But why be a piker. GWB's legacy bequeathed tens of trillions of new debt for the US government. Why just mint one coin? Mint ten or twenty, enough to redeem all of the increased debt from GWB's inauguration to Obama's. Triumph over debt!

See! These problems really are easy to resolve if just seen in the proper light.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

Out of these, Store of value was important early on as there was a Bitcoin-bubble. According to friends that paid more interest Bitcoins survived the inevitable crash due to the general currency insecurity that the GFC caused.

Its longterm use is as Medium of exchange because it can be traded more anonymously then most. Two parties can for a short term use Bitcoins in order to hide a transaction. So those interested in selling a service that potential customers wants to have hidden has a reason to provide the option of buying in bitcoins.

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